claire's kitchen at le salon

wow, très superbe! amazing steak and escargot! dessert of mandarin sorbet was magnifique!

great food and great service
food was devine made better by the great service. french food is always better when the waiter is french. would highly recommend the three cheese souffle and the beef fillet.

claire's kitchen at le salon. i will recommend this restaurant to anyone want a beautiful french food and a special night. amazing experience in this place, ambiance service and food wonderful. upstairs a beautiful and cosy space for functions.
i give it a 10 out of 10

real french waiters!!!. the overt pseudo french decor was great - just short of tacky in its over-the-top grandeur. food was beautiful re entree & mains, & well presented. i felt the waiters were not quite sure of correct serving procedures, but they made up for it by being so nice (and they were reallly french!!) dessert was disappointing however - very little choice & not inspiring like the rest of the menu. i felt that the tables were crowded into a small space & given the massive & beautiful space upstairs, this was was unnecessary. it's expensive, but for special occasion dining i would go again.

went there sunday for lunch for a friends birthday .. the minute i walked in i knew i was somewhere very special .. the welcome was warm & very french .. the service .. food .. drinks .. everything was exciting & very wonderful .. great ambiance .. loved the menu rolled & placed in the tall wine glass .. this place is most definitely worthy of a visit ! i personally am not mad about french food but i have to say this was great ... and not too rich if that is possible with french food .. try it ...

dissapointed. our waiter was very inexperienced - resulting in forgotten bread, empty water glasses, and clumsy nervous service that made the dining experience quite uncomfortable throughout the night. the other staff who rushed over when the waiter made an error seemed very friendly and capable, which made us feel like we were paying the same price as other tables for substantially poorer service. the beef tenderloin was lovely and met expectations. however dessert was a strange 'from the trolley' experience that turned out to be a platter (not a trolley) carried over to the table. when dessert arrived the creme fraiche ice cream was unpleasant and did not compliment the pear tart. so we finished our meal with hard dry tart and bitter ice-cream... and paid $18 for the pleasure.

all in all, a disappointing and frustrating experience. i spent more time feeling irritated by the service than i did enjoying my meal and departed wondering how this place ever received such excellent reviews. a nervous waiter-in-training and underwhelming overpriced desserts...everything a french restaurant on the vibrant oxford street should not be.

i am seriously grasping for superlatives that would truly do this establishment justice.
perhaps i can just say that my mother's birthday is coming up and taking her there for dinner would say "i love you" better than any bought gift could and the next time i seriously want to impress a date this will be my first stop.
no hesitation in awarding a 10 out of 10.

claire's kitchen at le salon. we invited two foodie friends with us for a saturday night out, and chose this restaurant as it was close by to where we wanted to eat.
well the decor, is stunning, and the menu superb!
when the food arrived it was beyond our expectations, for presentation portion size, price and the flavours were fantastic.
unfortunately they were the only highlights, for such a stunning restaurant, we couldn't believe how bad the service was, our wine which was ordered as we sat down arrived, during our entree, when we had finished the first bottle, and requested, the wine list again, nobody came back to take our order, even with us all craning our necks to try and get some attention, we ended up having to walk to the bar and order the bottle there!
by the time we finished our main meal, which again was superb! we were asked if we would like to see the desert tray, after another 15 minutes we grabbed someone's attention and managed to see the dessert tray, we ordered and the pastries were glorious.
we then asked for the bill, which took ten minutes to get back to us, we settled the bill two ways with two credit cards, and again a wait of ten minutes it was returned to us with an apology, that the desserts were not added on to the bill, and they had to process them again, another wait of ten minutes, and we finally walked out, with unfortunately not a happy disposition!
for such a wonderfull restaurant, the service lets it down terribly, we would like to recommend it to our other friends, but the service flaws are so extreme, we would rather not mention it.
which is such a shame, as the food was unbelievable and very reasonably priced.
such a disappointment that this one aspect marred our evening......

loved it! the food was pure heaven, along with the atmosphere and service. one of the best dining experiences i have had in a long time. it is quite pricey but worth it for a special occasion.

chateau briande was divine! great drinks, good food. waiters were gorgeous! only downside was the traffic noise. i had the steak tartare (yums) then shared the briande all very tasty. snails were very very good! everyone else loved their food too, although the pear or peach tart couldve used some cream!

what in the name of judy garland has happened to oxford street? once a sydney haven of homosexual gay activity, its decline as an area for the fun and fabulous has been rapid, and its pillaging almost unfettered. shop after shop has closed down, boarded up, and left for dead. even the food industry has not been immune, with stalwarts such as betty's soup kitchen closing after decades of service, and lauded restaurants such as rambutan recently suffering the same fate after only a few years on the strip. night after night, the few remaining eateries stand mostly empty of diners (with a few exceptions like the falconer and hungry jack's), all the while the restaurants just around the corner in crown street are heavily patronised. it would certainly take some balls to open a restaurant on the moribund strip, so it is rather apt that the person trying to buck the trend is an iconic sydney drag queen with the necessary, erm, equipment. claire's kitchen at le salon is rather a mouthful, but

recommended. i've never posted a review before, but last night we enjoyed a lovely meal at claire's kitchen and i'd like to share our experience and recommend claire's kitchen to others.

the service was authentic, gracious and attentive from the moment we arrived and our food was outstanding. we ordered duck liver parfait and steak tartare for entrees - both were old favourites done well with some originality thrown in and great presentation. our lamb and trevally mains were cooked to perfection and once again they were full of flavour and the presentation was excellent.

a well priced wine list and a lovely non-alcoholic cocktail (for the one of us doing feb-fast) provided suitable accompaniments to what was a great meal.

the surroundings are full of character, with beautiful chandeliers and unlike another reviewer, we did not find it too dark or the music unpleasant (perhaps these things have been improved since that reviewer's visit.

we definitely intend to return and encourage others to not miss out.

vive la france! - mais...... we had a nice evening at this classy restaurant, which makes a great improvement to oxford street, but it could have been superb with a few changes:
- please do something about the music - it's very nice but a bit "funeral parlour" for a swanky french restaurant - we recommend the cds of "la musique de paris derniere".
- the white wine could be chilled more - add stock to the back of the fridge
- the staff need a little more training to serve the correct meal to the correct table on time, producing the bill and picking up the payment.
- lighting could be improved - or please provide torches so we can read the menu.
- buy in or make some quality "glace vanille" a staple of every french restaurant we have been to. it goes very nicely with "tarte finnes au pommes" or "tarte tatin".
we look forward to the changes on our return.

claire's kitchen @ le salon is something special. my partner and i had the pleasure of dining at the first night of trade for claire's kitchen last night.
first impressions: wow!! beautiful finishings and pieces hand picked by claire de lune her/himself.
fantastic staff who were all very attentive, friendly and the french accents just added that extra special touch to the evening.
the food was everything i would expect from a fine dining restaurant, the mains was a little slow coming out but that is understandable for a first night, and a full restaurant. it didn't matter that much as the beautiful french wine selection is resonably priced and of great quality we ended up have two bottles.
if you are looking for something special and want to be treated extra special i highly recommend claire's kitchen at le salon.
i give it a 9 out of 10.